A method and a device for detecting a tendency to tilt around a vehicle axis oriented in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle is described in German Published Patent Application No. 197 51 925.
For this purpose, a variable describing the rotational speed of at least one wheel and at least one variable representing the transverse dynamics of the vehicle are determined. As a function of a variable representing the vehicle transverse dynamics, brief braking and/or drive torques are generated and/or modified on at least one wheel. While the braking and/or drive torques on the at least one wheel are being briefly generated and/or modified, and/or after they have been generated and/or modified, a variable that quantitatively describes the wheel behavior is determined for at least this one wheel as a function of the variable describing the rotational speed of this wheel. As a function of this variable, a determination is made as to whether the vehicle is showing a tendency to tilt around a vehicle axis oriented in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle.
A method and a device for determining the danger of a motor vehicle overturning is known from German Published Patent Application No. 198 56 303. The roll angle of a cornering vehicle that has at least one axle and at least two wheels and is equipped with transverse acceleration sensors that sense the transverse acceleration acting upon the center of gravity of the motor vehicle in the horizontal plane of the vehicle is determined thereby. To provide a method that does not require additional sensors and is largely independent of given vehicle characteristics and dimensions,                the component of transverse acceleration that acts largely in the horizontal plane is detected by the transverse acceleration sensors during cornering;        a state variable correlating to the centrifugal acceleration acting upon the center of gravity is determined;        and the roll angle of the vehicle is calculated from the difference, weighted by a factor, between the detected component of transverse acceleration and the determined centrifugal acceleration.        